My Vision for 2016

In January, one of my good friends challenged me to envision what I wanted out of my life for 2016. There are plenty of things I want to do, but I’ve never established a timeline for actually getting them done…until this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016 is the perfect time for me to do this. I work. I volunteer. I work. I volunteer. I work. I volunteer. Now, I feel like I have to maintain a balance and do some things to reward myself and to further enrich my life.

So, what am I going to do? Here’s my list:

• Gain more knowledge: Whether this new newly acquired knowledge or skill will help me in my career or just be something that I can use personally, I’m going to learn something new.
• Pay off credit card debt: I don’t just want to decrease the amount of money I owe. I want to pay off my debt, owe nothing, have a $0 balance. I want freedom.
• Plan an international trip: I’ve been to several states for some R&R, and I once took a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. I have this passport that I’ve only used one time, and I need to use it again before it expires. Where shall I go?
• Get in better physical shape: Last year, I would go to the gym on a regular basis, and I was brave enough to rock a bikini after having toned my body from working out. I’ve slipped, and my body has suffered. It’s time to improve my health and get back in shape!
• Read for pleasure: There was a time when I’d buy a book a month and read it. I have no clue what happened. I love reading. It’s a great way for me to escape. So, I’m going to read more this year.
• Attend a professional sports game: I’ve only been to high school and college games, so it’s time for me to step it up and enjoy the NFL, NBA, or MLB in D.C., Charlotte, or Atlanta…or maybe even Dallas!
• Attend more concerts: I love music, and I truly enjoy attending live performances. Mostly, I go to hip-hop shows, but this year I’m going to enjoy some jazz and R&B, too.
• Attend more cultural events: I want to take the time to appreciate the arts, learn more about history, and experience different cultures. Not that I’m sheltered–I just want to be exposed to a lot more.

Here it is…I’ve laid out my 8 goals for 2016. This is going to be a lot of fun. I’ve already started tackling some of things I’ve set out to do, and I can’t wait to get going on ALL of them. When it’s time to look back on this year, I’m going to be so proud of all that I accomplished. Go, me!

Best Banana Pudding Ever

Facebook has a lot of recipes that I want to try, so to help me better locate them, I’m creating blog posts for each of them.

Best Banana Pudding Ever

 

Here’s the original link to the recipe from the Budget101 page: https://www.facebook.com/Budget101com/photos/a.186915885118.168014.186879680118/10152795857355119/?type=3

The 50 Things You Need To Do For A Relationship To Last

I’ve been in several relationships, and I’ve always wanted them to last a lifetime. Now, I’m looking for things that can help make it last forever.

My Mom & “It Takes Two”

I love my mother! She always walks around randomly rapping the words to some hip-hop song. It can be the lyrics of C.L. Smooth, Biggie, Black Sheep, anybody. Well, she loves the song, “It Takes Two.” (Play the clip below if you’re not familiar.)

Tonight, she starts out with, “I wanna rock right now! I’m……….I don’t know who I am.” Then, she proceeds with the rest “I’m not internationally known, but I’m known to rock a microphone.” Now, she feels defeated because “she doesn’t know who she is,” and I’m cracking up at her. She’s walking around saying, “Chubb Rock? Chris Rock? Pete Rock? Rick Ross? Kris Kross?”

SMH & LOL!! She even came with, “I wanna rock right now. I’m 9th Wonder & I came to get down.” No, mom, no! She doesn’t want me to tell her who she is, and she’s not going to look it up on the Internet. I can’t wait for her to figure it out though. She even said that she’s going to wake me up if it comes to her around 4 a.m. I hope it happens in the next 30 minutes.

#TheHipHopAdventuresofMyMother

Loaded Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole

(Found this recipe on HOT 89.9 FM’s Facebook page.)

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cubed (1″)
8-10 medium potatoes, cut in 1/2″ cubes
1/3 cup olive oil
1&1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
6 Tbsp. hot sauce

Topping:
2 cups fiesta blend cheese
1 cup crumbled bacon
1 cup diced green onion

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spray a 9″x13″ baking dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. Carefully scoop the potatoes into the prepared baking dish, leaving behind as much of the olive oil/hot sauce mixture as possible. Bake the potatoes for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until cooked through and crispy and browned on the outside.

While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the left over olive oil/hot sauce mixture and stir to coat. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Top the cooked potatoes with the raw marinated chicken. In a bowl, mix together the cheese, bacon and green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mixture.

Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly delicious. Serve with extra hot sauce and/or ranch dressing.

DELTAS ROCK!

Convention Blog

Radio host Winston Chaney, the voice of gospel radio in the Washington metropolitan area, posted about the DST Centennial Celebration.

                COMMENTARY: PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH ALL – “DELTAS” ALL OVER THE WORLD

                For the past 7 days, the city of Washington, D.C. has had the pleasure to host one of the greatest Conventions in the History of Mankind, the 100th Anniversary of — “DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, INC.” So we the citizens of Washington, DC would like to say a few things: THANK YOU!!

                THANK YOU – for bringing your Convention to “THE NATION’S CAPITAL.

                THANK YOU – for patronizing our Hotels all over this city, even Maryland and Virginia! You guys were everywhere and you sold out…

View original post 273 more words

Goodbye, 33…Hello, 34!

Define Love

My definition of love is:

• wanting to share every aspect of my life with this one person because no matter whether it’s joy or pain, he’s the only support I want to receive.
• needing to hear his voice or read a text message from him just to be able to get through the day because his words are the comfort and motivation that I need.
• rejoicing in the good things that happen to him and being ready to go to war when he’s met with some obstacle because his happiness and sadness belong to me, too.
• wanting to spend every second of my life with my arms and legs intertwined with his because I always want to stay in his presence.
• accepting his flaws because his constant good heart outweighs any little annoying thing that he could do every now and then.
• being able to expose my true self to him and risk being critiqued because I’ve revealed who I really am but need him to see all of me, not just the physical me.
• feeling like he’s my cure, my Prince Charming, my counselor, my protector, and my confidant all wrapped in one.

–SydTheBSL

Define Love (Saw this on Twitter today)

“My definition of love is caring about someone so deeply that your life would be very different without them. There would always be a little piece of yourself missing if you were not there. Your life is incomplete when they are away and you would do anything to protect them or to make them happy. When I think of love I think of a couple sitting by the ocean holding hands and kissing. Love is an incredibly powerful word. When you’re in love, you always want to be together, and when you’re not, you’re thinking about being together because you need that person and without them your life is incomplete. Love defined!” — Nickle

If you’re a woman, I hope you voted today…

If you’re a woman, I hope you voted in this election. Not just because of some of the issues at hand but because lots of women before you fought for your right to vote. Shoot, the Founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. didn’t march down Pennsylvania Avenue for nothing in March 1913.

One of Delta’s Founders Florence Letcher Toms commented, “We marched that day in order that women might come into their own, because we believed that women not only needed an education, but they needed a broader horizon in which they may use that education. And the right to vote would give them that privilege.”

#ProudDelta!